We are pleased to honour our 2016 award recipients: ACORN Hossein Aliabadi, Michael Clark, Miki Harmath, Mark Johnston, Andre Kamal Kalamandeen, Terrence Lago, David Lock, Mezba Mahtab, Michael O'Cleirigh, Haroon Rafique, Petru Sugar, Laurel Williams, Zoe Ka Wing Wong, Michael Wyers Division(s) Involved: Division of University Operations; Faculty of Arts & Science On June 22, 2015, the NGSIS team launched the new Accessible Campus Online Resource Network

(ACORN) to very positive reviews by students. ACORN replaces the current ROSI Student Web Service

with a new modern design, allowing for a convenient, personalized and guided on-line experience for

students using the University of Toronto’s student systems.

The goal of this project was to provide an improved overall on-line experience for our students and to

empower them to make well informed decisions about their life at the University of Toronto. The new

platform not only delivers on this promise, but provides a solid base from which to extend new

student services in the future.

The team heard loud and clear that “the university must be more responsive to student needs… they

should listen more to students”. The ACORN team agreed with this demand and crafted ACORN with

student involvement to inform and guide the team. The new application includes the following

capabilities:

- The student dashboard, the central place to get an overview of key information that students need to be successful;

- Personalized notifications for important deadlines and prompts to take action and confirmations of actions occurring outside of ACORN (payment of fees, grade posting)

- A completely redesigned enrollment interface for the student systems; - View, request, add, drop or waitlist for courses; - View personal timetable; - View academic history including final grades; - Order transcripts; - View financial account information - A search capability by course code or title, with results displaying after a few characters

have been entered; - An ability to select course activities with easy to use pop screens; - An ability to “check out” some of the services and programs which are beyond the

classroom and are available to the students; - Order convocation tickets; - Update direct deposit details - Print “Educational Credit” tax forms - An enrollment “cart” to save a wish list of course activities prior to a student’s enrollment

date;

ACORN goes beyond the academic life of the student with a Life Section that highlights important

student services and programs on each campus such as:

- Housing - Getting Involved (Co-Curricular Record, clubs, etc.) - International opportunities - Health and wellness - Accessibility

Contact info: Cathy Eberts Director EASI Development cathy.eberts@utoronto.ca 419.978.4257 *** CONVOCATION HALL TRAFFIC CALMING Alex MacIsaac, Stan Szwagiel Division(s) Involved: Division of University Operations The Convocation Hall traffic calming project consisted of the implementation of an “intervention” in

the area outside of Convocation Hall at the south end of Kings’ College Circle which has been of

increasing concern to the whole University community for many years. The primary concern was

pedestrian safety, due to the area consisting of a large, open roadway without a coherent

intersection. The pedestrian zone ultimately designed and created to correct these issues is an open

“safe” space directly outside Convocation Hall, defined by bollards and a paint treatment on a newly

asphalted surface, connected to the north side of Convocation Hall by a sloped sidewalk transition,

and with a new intersection created where Kings’ College Road meets Kings’ College Circle. Road

painting, including new defined pedestrian crossings, and a new stop sign, were also added to

complete the project.

There has been universal (and unsolicited) praise for the intervention from numerous community

members at the University and in the broader community, including a resounding endorsement by

the members of the Governing Council at their first meeting in September 2015, when the new zone

had just been completed.

Contact info:

Anne Macdonald Director, Ancillary Services anne.macdonald@utoronto.ca 416-978-7830

*** DREAM JOB ACADEMY Kelci Archibald, Melanie Coleman, Mary Giamos, Samantha Hartlen, Carly Stasko, Danielle Thibodeau Division(s) Involved: Office of the Vice-President & Provost The Dream Job Academy is an arts-based career exploration series, where students explore and

identify their dream careers. The curriculum is designed to increase students’ self-knowledge and

self-awareness as they engage in career exploration and also seek to make their chosen work

meaningful and rewarding.

The program supports students in developing a self-directed non-linear approach to career exploration and development, encouraging students to engage in a life-long reflective practice that will support their evolving career identities. Contact info: Carly Stasko Hart House Programme Coordinator carly.stasko@utoronto.ca (on Mat. Leave) Jen Newcombe Jenifer.newcombe@utoronto.ca *** ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & CHEMISTRY BUILDING Jeffrey J. Miller Division(s) Involved: University of Toronto Scarborough The new Environmental Science & Chemistry Building, a state-of-the-art research building completed

July 2015, has a number of design innovations that serve both the operational and educational

aspects of the University.

Specifically, this LEED Gold Building has a below-grade geothermal heating/cooling system that

delivers 30% of the heating/cooling required by the building, and earth tubes that pre-condition

outside air so that the mechanical equipment does not have to work as hard, saving an additional 5%

- 10% on heating and cooling costs.

In addition, another relatively new enhancement is the installation of LED lighting throughout the building. These fixtures provide lighting that is more evenly distributed than regular fluorescents and last on average three times longer, while at the same time consuming approximately 30% less energy. Jeff’s learning experience with these over at the Pan Am Aquatics Centre convinced him that these would be a worthwhile installation in this new building. *** FACULTY OVERHEAD MODEL FOR INTER-DIVISIONAL TEACHING Carmela Mazin Division(s) Involved: Faculty of Arts & Science Inter-Divisional Teaching (IDT) funding at the University requires a consideration of overhead costs associated with delivering undergraduate education by the teaching division, in this case the Faculty of Arts and Science. No detailed model for calculating the costs for a division/Faculty existed prior to its development by Carmela Mazin for the Faculty of Arts & Science. The Model considers and attributes costs across a series of ‘bins’ analogous to the University’s Budget Model, and establishes a Faculty wide cost (FWC) for the provision of undergraduate teaching that can be used in the larger IDT funding model. *** GRADUATE ENROLLMENT PLANNING & FUNDING REPORT/WORKBOOK Deborah Buehler, David Gasteiger, George Taylor Division(s) Involved: Faculty of Arts & Science The Province and University have prioritised graduate expansion. The University provides aggregate

targets at the Faculty level, but not for each of the 40 graduate units in Arts & Science. This Graduate

Enrolment Planning and Funding Report/Workbook is the planning tool that facilitates enrolment,

financial and general ‘institutional’ planning at the Faculty of Arts & Science and each Graduate Unit

level by:

1) Aggregating information from a variety of sources to provide the data and tools necessary for

units to monitor their graduate performance against their plans

2) Ensure that the Vice-Dean Graduate and the Units can have discussions on graduate planning

based on common clearly presented set of facts.

3) Allow units and the Vice-Dean Graduate office to make the best possible evidence based

decisions for the improvement of the unit’s and Faculty’s overall Graduate program(s).

4) Allow members of the Dean’s office to quickly evaluate the graduate performance of a unit

across a multitude of relevant metrics.

5) Allow units and Office of the Dean to assess performance across several metrics and against

SGS Division peers.

Identify available funding and funding trends across different operating, research and restricted fellowship/scholarship funding sources. Contact info: George Taylor Manager, Finance & Budget Faculty of Arts & Science g.taylor@utoronto.ca 416.978.5432 *** MINDFUL MOMENTS Marco Adamovic, Andrea Blackler, Richard Chambers, Cheryl Champagne, Laurie Coleman, Jillian Cressy, Kaye Francis, Shayna Kulman-Lipsey, Holly Luffman, Jenifer Newcombe, Janine Robb, Magdalena Rydzy, Annie Simpson Division(s) Involved: Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering; Faculty of Arts & Science; Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education; Faculty of Medicine; Division of Human Resources & Equity; Office of the Vice-President & Provost; Office of the Vice-Provost, Students Mindful Moments formally introduced opportunities for any U of T student to participate in mindful

meditation Monday through Thursday across campus. Previously very few ad hoc opportunities were

available from time to time to very limited student populations. Mindful Moments has moved mindful

meditation into mainstream providing an ease of access for all students, including those who have

never tried it before as well as meeting the need of experienced practitioners.

This project was done in partnership with faculty members Brenda Toner (Psychiatry) and Michelle Chaban (Social Work), the staff members listed above in the nomination, and 3 students (Paniz Bastan Hagh, Laura Martin, and Rory Nichol) and involved multiple campus partners. Contact info: Richard Chambers Director, Multi-Faith Centre richard.chambers@utoronto.ca

416.946.3119 *** REVITALIZATION & TRANSFORMATION OF ANNUAL AND LEADERSHIP GIVING Wasila Baset, Laura Clark, Agnello Desa, Nazerit Hagos, Belmira Montenegrino, Liudmila Motrich, Michael Page, Brian Tanner, Heather Ullman Division(s) Involved: Division of University Advancement University Advancement staff and divisional advancement colleagues across the University have collaborated over the last five years to revitalize our Annual and Leader Giving (ALG) Program. The result is that we have transformed a program that had slow to stagnant growth, was not utilizing best practices consistently and was not able to provide high quality service and support to divisional colleagues. Today, the program is seeing consistent growth, divisional colleagues embrace the high quality of service and support the team provides, and the program wins external awards for its innovative approaches. A key strategy for this transformation was to overhaul our approach to donor renewal and to significantly ramp up the University’s leadership annual giving (LAG) programs. The impetus for these efforts was the Vice President, Advancement’s overall vision for advancement at U of T, which included a strong emphasis on and commitment to a strong annual and leadership giving program. But the success of these efforts was due to the leadership, commitment and dedication of the Annual and Leadership Giving team, and their ability to collaborate with divisional advancement colleagues. The effort began with the team developing a comprehensive plan for increasing annual support for U of T. The University’s annual giving programs involve soliciting tens of thousands of alumni and friends of the University annually through a variety of media including direct mail, email, telephone and social media. By raising the level of importance for annual and leadership giving at the University, we have succeeded in creating a best-in-class annual giving program, increasing annual giving revenue to record levels, creating a more donor-centric renewal program, and establish a strategic LAG program to feed our major, principal and planned giving pipelines, all while looking for ways to maximize existing resources. Contact info: Heather Ullman Executive Director, Annual and Leadership Giving Division of University Advancement heather.ullman@utoronto.ca 416.978.4944 ***

SELF SERVICE UTSC LIBRARY COURSE RESERVES Adriana Sgro Division(s) Involved: University of Toronto Scarborough Adriana Sgro was instrumental in helping the UTSC Library implement a self-service model for

course reserves. Library course reserves are materials that are in high-demand by our students.

Previously, course reserves were held behind a desk, accessible only by staff. The collection was not

accessible when the desk was closed, disadvantaging students who used the library in the late

evening or overnight. Adriana came to library management with a plan to change the model and put

these materials where students could access them directly whenever the library was open. Once the

project was approved, Adriana was highly involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of

the new model.

*** SPEAKING UP 2014 SURVEY (UTFSES) Rosalyn Figov, Katy Francis, Cheryl Gibbs, Melanie Grant, Selena Panchoo, Stephannie Roy, Meredith Sandles Division(s) Involved: Division of Human Resources & Equity; Office of the Vice-President & Provost A joint initiative of the offices of the Vice-President & Provost, and the Vice-President, Human

Resources & Equity, the Speaking Up 2014 Survey (UTFSES) offered 14,654 U of T employees (all

faculty, staff, librarians & clinicians) the opportunity to candidly share their specific employment

experiences in a voluntary and anonymous forum.

This project was undertaken to understand the University’s progress since the previous surveys in

2010 and 2006, identify areas where improvement might be needed; and gather information from

current faculty and staff to improve their work experience.

Contact info: Rosalyn Figov Director Operations & Finance Office of the Vice-President Human Resources & Equity rosalyn.figov@utoronto.ca 416.978.8515 ***

TCARD STUDENT PHOTO PROJECT Frank Boshoff, Arlene Clement, Allison Dubarry, David Lock, Wei Hua Ni, Peter St. Onge, Matthew Wilks Division(s) Involved: Division of University Advancement; Division of University Operations; Office of the Vice-President & Provost The T Card Student Photo project creates a central and secure repository for student TCard photos to

support academic integrity, community building, safety and security, and reduce the number of times

students are required to take photos on campus.

***

TCard+ Maher Abutamam, Abdurraouf Gehani, Jason William Holtz, Sili Huang , Mohsin M.Jeelani, Elias Karamitsos, Ravneet Kaur, Frank Peruzzi, Kyle Peterson, Michael Gregory Watchorn Division(s) Involved: Faculty of Arts & Science; University of Toronto Scarborough TCard+ is a new way to pay for goods and services at UTSC using the existing UofT Identification Card (Tcard). This new service allows students to upload and manage their funds (TBucks) via online accounts and to use those funds for printing and photocopying anywhere on campus. In addition, the same funds can be used for food and venting machine purchases, to pay for prescriptions at the Health and Wellness Centre, to rent lab equipment, in the UofT Bookstore, and for instrument rentals with the Department of Arts, Culture and Media. Discussions to expand TCard+ are under way with the Library, Athletics Centre, Parking, and other UTSC departments Contact info: Abdulrauf Gehani Manager Client Services - IITS *** TEACH PRACTICE VIDEO PROJECT Fadia Ayoub, Brian Da Silva Division(s) Involved: Faculty of Medicine The Teaching Practices (TP) in the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) provides

25% of core family medicine training for all second year Family Medicine post graduate medical

trainees and consists of a roster of over 70 experienced faculty located in approximately 30

community practices in Ontario, from rural southern Ontario to as far North as Moose Factory.

Medical trainees are required to spend 8 weeks in a Teaching Practice as part of their training.

The TP video project was designed to connect Family Medicine post graduate medical trainees with

information about prospective rural family medicine faculty and their sites virtually. This involved

the nominees traversing over 2600 km across Ontario to shoot video footage and conduct interviews

with Family Medicine rural site faculty.

Contact info: Dr. Erika Catford Teaching Practice Program Director Department of Family and Community Medicine erika.catford@utoronto.ca 1-705.323.8666

The Program Director introduction video can be found at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSQUygU-bdc&feature=youtu.be Here are some of the Teaching Practice videos that are posted on the portal: Blind River-Dr. Marc Bradford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIMX0VRkfzM *** THE CHANGEROOM PROJECT Michelle Brownrigg, Allison Burgess, Scott Clarke, Tanya (Toni) De Mello, Christopher Dickins, Virginia Ise, Tom Jaffe Moss, Day Milman, Jenifer Newcombe, Abidah Shirazi, Alex Vickers, Cameron Walker Division(s) Involved: Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education; Division of Human Resources & Equity; Office of the Vice-President & Provost; University College; University of Toronto Mississauga; University of Toronto Scarborough The Change Room Project is an exhibition that aims to amplify the voices of LGBTQ students in the

discussion of experiences in locker rooms and recreation facilities in their own words. The texts seen

on the locker room walls and digital screens in facilities across three University of Toronto

campuses were gathered through interviews with LGBTQ students recruited in 2015 as part of a Pan

Am Pride Initiative between U of T faculty, staff, students, and community partners.

The ideation of the project came from discussions by the Pan Am Pride Committee and was realized

through research by Professor Caroline Fusco whose interview data from her upper-year course

“Geographies of Health” KPE 305 and with LGBTQ students form the substance of the Change Room

Project. Working with collaborator Day Milman (Hart House) and Anita Matusevics, Graphic

Designer, and Amanda Di Lisio (Dr. Fusco's Graduate Research Assistant) the Change Room Project

was realized in space.

The Change Room Project investigates how the social and physical experiences of locker rooms

impact participation in physical fitness and recreation by LGBTQ students. In representing student

experiences in their own words, the project seeks to shift behaviors and attitudes in locker rooms to

be more inclusive, accepting, and reflective. Through various feedback mechanisms and parallel

programming events, The Change Room Project is an opportunity to engage students in conversation

and advocacy for safer, more inclusive, spaces.

Contact info: Day Milman Project Coordinator Hart House day.milman@utoronto.ca *** U OF T HOUSE: PAN AM PARAPAN AM GAMES Andrew Arifuzzaman, Sarah Baker, Anthony Bowman, Jillian Bradshaw, Dana Burke, Heidi Calder, Elizabeth Cragg, Jennifer Curry, Sherine Daryanani, Barbara Dick, Tracy Gould, John Guatto, Lesa Holmes, Brenda Ichikawa, Virginia Ise, Susan Ivimey, Adam Kuhn, Michael Kurts, Therese Ludlow, Vicki MacCrimmon, Andy Macdonald, Bryn MacPherson, Amanda Maleganovski , Makeda Marc-Ali, David Newman, Rita O'Brien, Zoran Piljevic, Shelley Joy Romoff, Diana Scattolon, Elaine Stam, Paul Templin, Francesco Villiva, Kristen Barbara Wallace, Frances Wdowczyk, Denise Williams, Julie Anne Witt Division(s) Involved: Faculty of Arts & Science; Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education; Division of Communications; Division of University Advancement; Division of University Operations; Office of the President; Office of the Vice-President & Provost; Office of the Vice-Provost, Students; University of Toronto Scarborough Contact info: Bryn MacPherson, AVP Office of the President & Chief of Protocol Bryn.macpherson@utoronto.ca 416.946.5848 *** UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO AIRPORT WELCOME BOOTH

Anthony Bowman, Jonathan Horvatin, Holly Luffman, Kenneth Withers Division(s) Involved: Office of the Vice-President & Provost; Office of the Vice-Provost, Students Each year thousands of new University of Toronto students arrive at Pearson International Airport from destinations across the country and around the globe. Often tired from long flights, confused by cultural nuances in our language, or just nervous in anticipation of their (often first) adventure without familial supports, their introduction to Toronto through Pearson can take a toll. Student Life (CIE, Communications, CAO), in partnership with Recruitment and DUA advanced this project where we provided the booth, the trained student/alumni staff, and the booth information at Pearson at Terminals 1 and 3 from 8:00 am through to 10 pm. to greet our new and returning students; to speak to prospective students and/or their families as they passed through the Airport, and to greet our own faculty and staff who were excited to see a prominent U of T presence at Pearson. Contact info: Tony Bowman Director, Communications tony.bowman@utoronto.ca 416-978-8842 *** UTALERT MASS COMMUNICATIONS Andrea Carter, Joan Griffin, Erin Lemon, Marden Paul, Meredith Strong, Vicki Vokas, Matthew Wilks, Michael Wiseman Division(s) Involved: Division of Communications; Division of University Operations; Division of Human Resources & Equity; Office of the Vice-Provost, Students Past emergency alert systems at the university provided limited services and ability to engage with the audience in multiple formats. The challenge was to find a system that would provide ease of use, engage in formats in which students, staff and faculty use, and assist in the overall communication response to emergencies on campus. This team recognized the need to be able to complement the work that was occurring at the university on critical incidents and communication efforts. As you can see, while some of the members have responsibilities that including assisting senior administration during crises, none of their responsibilities included putting in place technologies to alleviate challenges associated with communication on a mass scale during an emergency. This team identified a problem and sought a solution. Prior communication tools had out of date contact information which resulted in messages going to individuals who should not be receiving these messages. UTAlert (sitting on the Blackboard Connect platform) was implemented as a consolidated mass communications vehicle to notify students, faculty and staff via email, phone, SMS, social media, and

other media when important information, including crisis alerts, needed to be issued. UTAlert’s interface permits communication across multiple media via a single dashboard. Key aspects include: Rapid creation and delivery of messages Consistent messaging across selected channels Pre-loaded templates and scripts for rapid message creation Integrated metrics and reporting on direct contact channels (email, SMS, phone) to verify delivery Capacity to issue messages to discrete groups (e.g., employee groups, campuses, communities such as faculty, staff, or students) The process has created a method for generating a consolidated, up-to-date dataset from multiple sources including HRIS and ROSI. The service operates with 365/24/7 support from Blackboard Connect allowing executives to access support any time and to send messages from offsite locations if needed (if our systems were down, we can still engage the UTALERT system). The service includes the ability for the Executive on Call or Crisis Manager to send messages, even if no staff or computers are available to assist, via a direct line to the Bb Connect client concierge. With the development of protocols, guidelines and templates, the university is better positioned to communicate during an emergency. *** WASHROOM INCLUSIVITY PROJECT Nythalah Baker, Allison Burgess, Richard Chambers, Scott Clarke, Tanya (Toni) De Mello, Tina Marie Doyle, Kaye Francis, Tanya Lewis, K.C.McBride, Ben Poynton Division(s) Involved: Division of Human Resources & Equity; Office of the Vice-President & Provost; Office of the Vice-Provost, Students; University College; University of Toronto Mississauga; University of Toronto Scarborough The Washroom inclusivity Project began at the St. George campus as a collaborative initiative between students and staff across equity offices and campus services with the goal of providing clear and updated information about the range of U of T's current washroom facilities and fostering a safer and more inclusive campus community. The project addressed four specific areas of interest: Physical accessibility, single-user washrooms for broader gender inclusivity, baby change stations, and footbaths for students who wash before prayer. The result of the project was to update the online campus map with information about the diverse washrooms available across the three campuses. On St. George campus, the project was a partnership between the Sexual & Gender Diversity Office, the Multi-Faith Centre, the Family Care Office, Accessibility Services and AODA Office, in collaboration with Facilities & Services and Property Management. At UTM, the project was a partnership between the Sexual & Gender Diversity Office and the UTM Equity & Diversity Office in collaboration with the AccessAbility Resource Centre, AODA Office, Caretaking Services, Family Care Office, Facilities Management & Planning, Housing & Student Life, RAWC, Multi-Faith Centre, OUT@UTM, UTM MSA and UTMSU. At UTSC, the project was a partnership between the Sexual & Gender Diversity Office, the UTSC Equity & Diversity Office and AccessAbility Services in collaboration with AODA Office, Athletics &

Recreation, Community Safety Office, Facilities Management, Family Care Office, Human Resource Services, Multi-Faith Centre, Office of the Registrar and Student Housing & Residence Life. The goals of the project were to: 1. Create a comprehensive inventory of publically available single-user washrooms, accessible washrooms, baby changing stations and ablution friendly washrooms; 2. Update the current online map to make information about facilities more broadly available for the campus community; 3. Engage students and employees in education around washroom use that will promote a climate of safety and inclusion; 4. Provide meaningful experiential learning opportunities for students that highlight learning across differences and navigating pluralism; and 5. Promote an equity focus that highlights U of T's leadership in equity, diversity and excellence. The project involved significant student involvement, and the learning outcomes for students were to: 1. Connect their environment and life to learning; 2. Identify how they can make a positive impact on their campus and in their local community; 3. Work across differences and form meaningful collaborations; 4. Understand multiple and intersecting social locations and identities; and 5. Negotiate pluralism. Students had an opportunity to learn about the daily diverse needs of students studying on campus through the educational workshops. Because the washrooms were evaluated in teams, students had an opportunity to work across differences with students from other offices, centres or departments. Examining physical washrooms reinforced the need to think carefully and to support the diverse needs of community members. Updating the on line map with accurate information enhances access to information for all members of the university community. ***